The NHL, in addition to demanding that players take home a drastically smaller portion of hockey-related revenue in its latest CBA proposal, is shooting for a "management rights clause," the New York Post reports.

That, according to the Post, would give owners unilateral power over issues including realignment, scheduling and playoff format; last year, the union rejected the NHL's proposed realignment plan, and the proposed clause seems to be a direct response to that.

The league is also attempting to quantify its losses. A league source told French-Canadian media outlet RDS that while some teams are making money and reported revenues have consistently risen ($3.3 billion gross last season), the league as a whole is in the red. Another source put losses for last season at $240 million. Those losses, theoretically, would stem from the combination of player salaries and operating costs.

It must be noted, though, that creative accounting can manipulate that figure in either direction. Regardless of how much money owners are losing, how much they say they're losing and the gigantic contracts that they continue to dole out, they want to pay players significantly less. The NHL's amended CBA offer represented an eventual 50/50 split of a smaller amount of hockey-related revenue.

The NHLPA "did negotiate to the highest possible percentage they could get in the context of a cap system (in 2004-05) and they did a pretty effective job,” Daly told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Now, 57 percent is too much. It’s not good for the industry, and ultimately not good for the players because of that. The percentage needs to be lower. The economic realities of doing business in today’s world are different than they were in 2004-05. Canadian currency is worth a lot more than it was in 2004-05. The economy is not as vibrant as it was in 2004-05. And the cost of generating revenues is much more costly today than it was 2004-05."

Players acknowledge that several teams are losing money but maintain that the way to address the issue is through revenue sharing, not cutting salaries. The NHLPA also released on Wednesday its own attempt to "set the record straight" on last week's failed round of negotiations.

"After seven straight seasons of record revenue, it’s clear that if the NHL has a problem, it is not a revenue issue, but rather a revenue disparity issue. The owners’ revenue sharing proposal does increase revenue sharing somewhat, but every dollar of revenue sharing is paid for by player salary reductions; the higher income clubs contribute nothing on their own," the memo read.

"If you look at our last proposal on revenue sharing and their initial proposal on revenue sharing, we’re not that far apart in terms of absolute dollars," Daly told the Star Tribune. "At the end of the day, what Gary is trying to say is, 'We’re in the ballpark on revenue sharing in terms of dollars.' "

In the meantime, the NHLPA, while maintaining the talking point that its members would play on through negotiations, issued another memo providing information that players would need if a lockout indeed begins on or after Sept. 15.

The memo, according to a copy obtained USA Today, touches on several things; injured players still would receive their paychecks; players can join other leagues during the lockout but could run into problems with their NHL clubs if they're injured; signing bonuses, buyouts and return of escrow payments will be paid, with escrow likely coming in October.

Next week, more than 200 players are scheduled to meet in New York for two days with NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr. On Sept. 13, also in New York, Bettman will hold a Board of Governors meeting, though Daly told the Star Tribune that Bettman doesn't necessarily need to use that meeting to ask for permission to lock the players out, as has been reported.

"Gary really already has authorization of the Board to lock out. I’m not sure he needs another vote of the Board," Daly said. "It’s to update the Board on collective bargaining and we’ll see what they have to say."